Monday, April 25, 2011

Which White Paint?

I had an email from a follower in South Australia who wants to paint her house but can't find the right shade of white.

Some are too yellow, some are too grey and cold.

If you have been reading my blog you will know that I have some very strong views on white.

I can't live with creamy whites - to me they look dated. But I once painted a house interior in grey white and it irked me every day.

The best white is a white-white and I recommend shades such as Dulux "White On White" or "Whisper White". This lovely all-white painted house in Brisbane I wrote about in the Australian Womens Weekly (Feb 2011), was painted White On White inside and out. It looks great in the photos and even better in real life. Don't be afraid to paint the woodwork the same shade, just choose a different finish from the flat walls such as satin or semi gloss.

The only other white I have seen recently that I like is on this beach house a few doors up from my beach cottages at Currarong. For an up-to-date look I love this white teamed with a pale grey. Very chic and understated and I wish I had thought of that combination every time I drive by.

For this look I would try Dulux "Lexicon" white - its white but not too cold. If I catch the owners I will ask them what colours they actually used.

Thanks for this info, I was going to start this process in the next few weeks.White on white it will be ! Tick that off my (lengthy) list. Now for carpet colours , any advice on how to choose ??Karyn x

Choosing a white is hard. I am currently getting my house painted. I have chosen a gorgeous light cool grey colour but the white colour is a plain builders white and wow, it is too bright. I am going to try Lexion white as you said it looks good with light grey. If you get a moment to ask your neighbour what colour white they chose, that would be great. My painter is not going to be pleased!!

The inside of our house is painted in 'Berkshire White'. We agonised over whites when we painted it eight years ago. So, so happy with it as our house is a fibro shack and we didn't want a cold white. We've recently painted the outside of our house and along with blue tones we used 'Vivid White', 'White Duck' and 'Salt Spray'. Pruxxx

Would like to paint our exterior a white but have light cream (white birch) window frames. Roof, railings and fencing are all Colourbond Surfmist but surfmist doesn't go with window frames - could we use Whisper White or do you have any other suggestions - thinking of doing the guttering and fascia a colour similar to the window frames plus a grey for an ascent.

Hi, I really need help too; we will get our recently rendered exterior walls and we want to choose white color. The roof is pinkish-yellowish color (painted with Shield coat - FANTAN). I thought Dulux Whisper White with a couple of feature walls with Dulux Equanimity colors would be ok. Gutter/Facsia/sofits/gable etc can be Dulux WhiteOnWhite (gloss) I was thinking. What do you think? Whisper White is warm with creamy touch, would it go with Equanimity which is a bit of greyish-blue? Thanks in advance.

Avoid cloud white, recently started my exterior painting and cloud white is just too yellow, in fact any shady area looked virtually a pale yellow, sort of like a room that has had two chain smokers in it for about five years. Now paying to have it repainted at a cost of thousands,,

We have an old terracotta roof on our 1940s weatherboard cottage. It is a double front, hip roof house, with one front further out than the other, and rather plain with big windows. What is your suggestion on the best white to go with the warm orangey-red roof tile.